Tag: bread

The other day, I tried this recipe from Natalie Oldfield’s Gran’s Kitchen cookbook (via 101 Cookbooks).

Why should you even click on the above link to the recipe?

No kneading

yeasty bread

Start to finish (including the time it takes for the bread to rise) in under 2 hours

Oatmeal, whole wheat, versatile wholesome-y, tweak-able goodness.

Do it.

I spritzed the loaf with olive oil and sprinkled whole wheat flakes on top before popping it into the oven. Nutty goodness ensued.

Mine was a little bit on the crumbly side after a few hours and a few slices, but I threw the remaining slices into the oven under the broiler (ever-so-quickly), and they made for great toast (with great peanut butter) the next morning.

Mostly, I like this recipe because I can time things so My Man comes home at about the same time I’m taking fresh bread out of the oven. Clever girl. (Yeah, that’s right…my house smells like fresh-baked bread. Hah!)

So, why does the title of this post end with a question mark?

I’ve got a bold tweak in the oven at the moment. I had some bread-machine mix (no bread machine, mind you) for 7 grain bread in the cupboard, so I used it in place of the flours/oats in the original recipe. But then I added salt. And yeast, like the recipe calls for. I suspect that was a bad move, since the mix had these things already. However, the mix had been opened, so I thought some of the yeast might be bust by now. To compensate (really, just because it’s what I do), I threw in a handful of whole wheat flakes and a handful of wheat germ.

I tasted the batter after scooping it into the loaf pan, and it was salty. I might be able to boot and rally, but I’m not sure.

So, we’ll see if I screwed the pooch on this one. It won’t be a reflection on the recipe if I did, so I still encourage you to try it.

The original bread has a whiff of sweetness to it (because of the oatmeal and the whisper of honey), but I think you could easily throw in dried herbs, or conversely add some cinnamon or nutmeg to sex it up according to your needs.

I’m off to check on the bread…and then to contemplate why bending, squatting, putting on and taking off shoes, etc. got so difficult all of a sudden. A couple of weeks ago, my little dude still gave me room. Now he’s hogging up my uterus. Naughty muppet. I’m grounding him until birth.

Post Script

Holy crap, I can’t believe I got away with that bread.

I expected a hard (or alien-like poofiness of a blob) brick of salty nastiness.

As it turned out, I have a slightly salty, very whole grain, high fiber, hearty yet moist and soft (on the inside) bread.

Awesome.

My standards are pretty flex when it comes to eating my own food… but here’s the thing: my Portuguese man likes the bread.

The much-anticipated, very-delightful Apple Bread recipe from my gal pal in Azeitão is posted below! I’ve tried it, and it is crackalicious. She’s not exaggerating about how difficult it is to get our ‘weird’ foreign food to be tested, let alone approved by, the average older Portuguese person. (My mother-in-law, hand to God, once gave me the Portuguese-wiggly-no-finger and spat out a bite of my rosemary shortbread. And she’s a really lovely person. It ain’t easy.) Let’s give her props for the victory!

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Living in Portugal is quite a trip. The people here really value their history and their traditional recipes. Beans and boiled meat stirred up in a giant pot is cause for a celebration, and experimenting with new recipes is just not done. Why would we experiment when we have already perfected everything? Yep, actual quote from a Portuguese cook. She is well-renowned in the northern parts of Portugal for her fried pork meat using nearly 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening and onions. Needless to say, health is not the primary concern of Portuguese cooks, and thereby, I feel that the excessive sugar in this recipe is justified:) 🙂 I am living here after all.

Getting a mother-in-law to even SAMPLE one of your strange, estrangeiro foods is difficult, if not impossible. However, this recipe actually made a large Portuguese family smile this winter in the midst of -5 degree freeze and no heat. Can’t beat that!

Please-the-Portuguese Apple Bread-shout out to allrecipes.com for the base of the recipe! I have made lots of changes though.
Servings: 8-use one bread pan
1 1/2 c or 330g of flour. If you are cooking in Portugal, use farinha para pão
1 tsp or 1 cdc cinnamon
1/2 tsp or 1/2 cdc baking soda
1/4 tsp or 1/4 cdc salt
1/4 c or 159 ccs of vegetable oil or applesauce. Using the applesauce is healthier, but it does make the bread a bit drier.
3/4 c or 168g of white sugar
1/4 c or 57g of brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/4 tsp or 1/4 cdc of vanilla
1 c or 2 small chopped apples
1 c or 1 small package of broken walnuts

In a big bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, mix oil or applesauce, sugar, egg, vanilla and apples. Stir into flour mixture. Add nuts and mix.
Grease the bread pan with butter.
Put mixture in the bread pan. The dough will be pretty thick, and you have to hand-scoop it into the bread pan.
Cook the bread in the oven on 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius. Or if you are the author of this blog, set your oven to the big flame:) 🙂
Cook for 35-45 minutes. Dump the bread onto the wire rack and let it cool for 15 minutes.